Method for forming photographic plates



July 29, 1941. J. c. MAY

METHOD FOR FORMING PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. d/(Italy :a/ 26 JF Ni w Mfr MAM ATTORNEYS Filed Sept. 17, 1938 July 29, 1941.

J. C. MAY METHOD FOR FORMING PHbIOGRAPI'IIC PLATES Filed Sept. 17, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet? X T INVENTOR. Jaluz 6741a Q I W ATTORNEYS Patented July 29, 1941 METHOD FOR FORMING PHOTOGRAPHIC John O. Maya Chicago, III., as

Gravure Division oi Publication New York, N. Y.,

ll'nor to Alco- Corporation,

a corporation New York Application September 17, 1938, Serial No. 230,361

(Cl. asp-5.1)

3 Claims.

The present invention relates toa method for forming a photographic plate upon which a plurality of subjects are located in accordance with a desired layout. More particularly, the'inven-' tion relates to methods for preparing, photographically, a composite photographic plate from which a printing surface may be made, such plate consisting of a plurality of artistic subjects that, in accordance with a desired layout, are to be arranged in such fashion that certainsubject's are either inserted within other subjects, or are in touching relationship thereto.

In accordance with existing photographic practice, when various pieces of colored art work are to be assembled on a single photographic plate for use in-the formation of a printing surface, four color separation negatives (yellow, red,

blue andblack) are made from each piece of colored art work. One of these negatives from each set (usually a key negative) is assembled onone plate in accordance with the customer's layout. These negatives are on glass and are usually positioned by means of suitable adhesive tape which adheres to portions of the glass plate which do not carry the negative image, such portions being obliterated in photographic or engraving operations in order that the final printed product will contain no printing thereon. From this assembled set of negatives, a contact positive plate is made which is termed a fmaster" plate and which is subsequently used in assembling the various sets of negatives in proper porelationship,

faces upon which the customer's layout requires that portions of the artwork be in touching or on which one subject is to be inserted within a larger piece of color art work, presents extremely difficult problems which have heretofore required considerable time and patience in order that the work may be executed with the required degree of excellence. It is with the solution of the problem. presented by 'sition when the final'composite color separation,

positives are made. can be made with very of the individual negatives-are in touching relationship because the positioning of the various negatives in the desired fashion may be accomplished without difficulty by means of the adhesive tapes. Where, however, pieces of art work are required to be in touching relationship or where one piece is to be inserted within another, great difliculty arises because of the fact that the portions of the glass plates which are ;-ln touching relationship must be accurately cut to conform with the line of contact between the touching art subjects. Even if the glass plates could be cut on a curved or irregular line (which they cannot be), there would still be the difficulty of securing the plates effectively in a desired position, such difficulty arising from the fact that the adhesive tapes could not overlie any art-bearing portion of the negatives.

It is thus apparent that the photo-engraving The foregoing operations little dimculty' where none work leading to the preparation of printing sur-' v of. art in accordance out;

the foregoing difllculty that the present invention is concerned, and an object of the inven- I is the provision of amethod by means of which the various pieces of, colored tion, accordingly,

art work can be assembled and from' which a photographic plate can be prepared which will combine all of the required pieces of art in acand so that the four photographic plates required for printing multicolor art work (yellow, red, blue cordance with a.prede,termind layout and black) will all register perfectly.

A further object of the invention is to provide" a method of the above character by means of which a complicated layout consisting of a composite of several art subjects, at least one of which is touching or inserted within another subject, may bereadily prepared.

Further objects of the invention will be apparent as it is described in greater detail in connection with the accompanying drawings,

wherein: w

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a finished photographically prepared positive plate upon which has been combined variouspieces with a predetermined lay- Fig. 2 is e diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which certain 01' the negatives of art subjects are assembled upon the plate "from which is to be made the finished master plate:

Fig. 3 is a view showing the positive plate upon which the negatives of Fig. 2 have been exposed;' Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 are diagrammatic illustrations of positive film overlays of art subjects which are to be inserted or positioned in touching relationship to the subjects shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of a posi tive master plate for register purposes, with the film overlays positioned so that the inserted or Q touching subjects are in Fig. 7 is an Fig. 6; e Fig. 8 is a view similar the negatives which are not in touching-relationship a isembled on accurate register;

end view of the elements shown:v in

to Fig. 2 sheen 1g inlet.

a glass plate read'y for a photographic operation, in accordance with a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 9 is a similar view of a glass plate upon which have been assembled all of the inserted or touching art subjects in negative form to be used in connection with Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic illustration of a positive master plate for register purposes, which has been produced by the double exposing of the plates of Figs. 8 and 9, and which is mounted in a registering frame;

Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic view showing the manner in which one'set of color separation negatives (for example, yellow) are located in register with the master plate shown in Fig. 10;

Fig; 12 is a view similar to Fig. 8 showing one set of yellow separation negatives properly located and attached in registering position in a registering frame;

Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 11, showing the manner in which the other set of separation negatives (the set including all subjects touching or inserted in other subjects) are properly located over the master plate;

Fig. 141s a view similar to Fig. 12, showing the resulting plate from the operation indicated in Fig. 13, for use in connection with the plate illustrated in Fig. 12;

Fig. 15 illustrates the front of a camera to which is attached a registering frame similar to that illustrated in Fi 10.

Referring to the above drawings, and particularly to Figs. l'through '1, several pieces of colored art work are indicated at a and b. These pieces of art work which are not in touching relationships, are in the layout, as illustrated in Figs. 1,'

3 and 6.

n the finished plate, it is assumed that other pieces of art work are to be included, these pieces being illustrated at c and d. Subject c is to be inserted in subject a, as illustrated, and subject d is to be placed in touching relationship to subject b, all as illustrated in Fig. 1.

These various pieces of colored art work are to be assembled in such a way as to enable a single plate indicated at 20 to be produced. In order to accomplish this result, the negative plate of subjects a and b are placed in proper po. sition over a plate 2|. This operation is illustrated in Fig. 2 wherein 'a plate 22 carries the negative of subject a and plate: 23, the negative of subject b. These plates are located in proper position by means of adhesive strips or tapes 2, the tapes overlying portions of the plates 22 and 23 which do not carry the negative images a and b, respectively, and, in this fashion, effectively locating the negativesubjects in the proper position.

Fig. 3 illustrates a positive plate 25 with the positive images thereon which is prepared from the assembled negative described above. In or; der to apply the subjects c and d in proper position, positive'filrn overlays 216 and 21 are made of the respective subjects 0 and d. These overlays are'applied to the plate 25 preferably in emulsion to emulsion relationship in the position called for on the original layout and as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. This composite plate 20 serves as a master" plate for register purposes and by means of which the various plates required for color printing operations can be produced, as described hereinafter.

In accordance with a modified procedure, one set of negatives (subjects a and b) are assembled on a glass plate 23 and the other set of negatives 23 are then double exposed onto one photographic are assembled on a glass plate 29. Plates 23 and plate to form a master" plate 30 for register purposes. This master plate 30 or the master plate 20 is secured in a frame 3| which is provided with two or more register lugs 32. This provides a master" by means of which the several sets of color separation negatives may be located in a desired position so that the sets will be in perfect register with each other.

Each set of color separation negatives is then utilized to form the single positive separation photographic plate in the manner which will now be described, using the yellow separation negatives for purposes of illustration.-

The yellow separation negatives of subjects a and b are placed on the master plate in a frame 33 which has-apertures 33' thereon adapted to receive the lugs 32. The frame 33 carrying the subjects a and b is illustrated in Fig. 12. The separation negatives of subjects a and b are shifted in the frame 33 until they are in register with the corresponding subjects of the master plate. The subjects a and b are fixed immovably in the frame 33 by means of tape-and glass strips after which the frame 33 and aflixed subjects a and b are removed.

The subjects 0 and d are then placed on the master" plate and moved into accurate register with the corresponding parts of the "master plate. Thesesubjects arethen attached, by means of tape and glass strips, to a frame 33, which has apertures 34' therein. The subjects a and b and subjects c and d, therefore, are fixed in different frames, but are accurately positioned with respect to the apertures 33' and 34, respectively, in theirsupporting frames. Therefore, if

.the frames 33 and 34' are placed successively on the frame 35, which is fixed to the camera front 36 with the apertures 33 and 34 receiving the positioning pins 35', they may be photographed by double exposure in exact register to form a single positive plate like plate 20. It will be understood that the undesired parts of the negatives'or supporting glass strips may-be opaqued out in order to avoid any undesired markings on the single plate produced.

The remaining sets of color separation negatives are assembled in a like manner and fixed in registering frames which are provided with apertures for receiving the registering frame lugs. This arrangement assures exact positioning of the various negatives for exposing subsequent photographic plates which are likewise provided with positioning means for assuring registration.

of the separation plates. The photographic plates made from the exposure of the different sets of assembled negatives will carry the various subjects in the exact position called for and in such fashion that all of the color separation positives will register exactly with each other.

It will be understood that, the photographic operations of producing the various color separation negatives of the subjects may be performed in any desired fashion. For example, it may be expedient to first make all of the separation negatives, includingthe negative for register purposes. of a given subject, and then successively make the corresponding negatives of the other subjects in order to be assured of the same focus and same size of image.

' The frame 35 may be provided with a plurality gers 31-are received on stud bolts 31L and are retained by means of nuts 39.

The use of frames having corresponding positioning pins for supporting the "master plate and for positioning the registering frames on the camera, assures accurate register of the various subjects of the negatives, thereby avoiding the necessity of cutting the negatives to fit them together and also eliminating a large proportion of the retouching heretofore required,

While the invention has been described with reference to specific examples of the process, it will be understood that these examples are not limiting and it covers other equivalent methods within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of preparing sets of composite color separation positives of art subjects, in

which said art subjects are photographed on separate negatives and at least one of said art subjects is to be in'touching relationship to another, comprising preparing a master plate hav- 3 era having positioning means corresponding to the positioning means on the first-mentioned frame to obtain a single positive having said art subjects in touching relationship.

2. The method set forth in claim 1, comprising registering the negativesof the remaining sets of separation negatives with the corresponding portions of said master plate and securing the negatives having the touching subjects in separate registering frames.

3. The method of preparing sets of composite color separation positives of art subjects, in which said art subjects are photographed on separate negatives and at least one of said art subjects is to be in touchingrelationship to another, comprising preparing a master plate having a layout of the art subjects thereon, securing the I master plate to positioning means, placing one of the color separation negatives of one of said touching subjects in register with the corresponding a layout of the art subjects thereon, securing themaster plate in a frame having positioning means thereon, placing one of the color separation negatives of one of said touching subjects in register with the corresponding art subject on the master plate, securing the separation negative in a registering. frame having locating means complementary to and engageable with said positioning means, placing the negative of the other touching art subject from the same set of separation negatives in register with its corresponding art subject on the master plate, securing the negative of said other art subject in another reging art subjects on the master plate, securing the separation negative to locating means complementary to and engageable with saidpositioning means, placingthe negative of the other ration negatives in register with its corresponding art subject on the master plate, securing said negative of the other touching art subject to istering frame having locatingmeans complementary to and engageable with said positioning means, and separately placing and photographing the negatives in said registering frames on a. camlocating means complementary to and engageable touching art subjects from the same set of sepa-- photographing 

